Representatives of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, stakeholders and institutions active in environmental issues and sustainable development, including the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation, discussed the first draft of the revised Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD) during a two-day conference hosted by the Government of Malta on 17 and 18 February 2015.

The revised MSSD will be submitted for final endorsement to the 16th Meeting of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development in Rabat in mid-June 2015, and for adoption to the next Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols (CoP 19).

The IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation played an active role in these discussions and in the Steering Committee of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development. One of the new IUCN knowledge products, the Green List of Protected Areas, was included in the discussion about how to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of park managing bodies.

Six thematic areas lie at the core of the MSSD: seas and coasts; natural resources, rural development and food; climate; sustainable cities; transition towards a green economy; and governance. The strategy has been updated in light of the Rio+20 outcomes and the intergovernmental process to develop global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The revised Strategy will provide the policy framework for deploying sustainable development policies in the Mediterranean riparian countries in the coming years.

For further information, Antonio Troya

Photo: © IUCN